Though it may seem like the deferments of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – most notably the employee benefit mandate – are a recent phenomenon, health experts chronicle how the healthcare law has had a litany of delays and postponements since the bill was signed into law in March 2010.
For instance, just 15 months after the ACA was drafted, Congress decided that businesses would not longer be required to fill out an IRS form for purchases in excess of $600.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, former head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, told Fox News that the requirement had very little utility and was more of a nuisance than anything else, calling it "extremely onerous."
Further, only a few months ago, President Barack Obama and his administration decided to postpone the managed-care option and the small business health insurance options program, which were designed to give business owners a larger marketplace to shop for plans. Other provisions of the ACA have been nixed entirely, such as the one that provided for long-term healthcare.
Katie Mahoney, executive director of healthcare policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, told Fox News that these issues are representative of a larger problem.
"I think the bottom line is that the law is very convoluted, very complicated and is bad policy," said Mahoney.
The Chamber of Commerce is one of several trade associations staunchly opposed to the ACA, joining the National Federation of Independent Business, among others.
